Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and I ask her to accept the apologies of the Minister for Health and the Ministers of State at that Department. Like Deputy Murphy, I extend our deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased. The loss of a loved one is hard for family and friends at any time, but a sudden and unexpected death is particularly difficult.

The response of the HSE national ambulance service to the incident was incorrectly reported. In addition, claims have been made, based on this incorrect information, which can, unfortunately, only deepen the distress of this poor person's family. I will outline the facts. The ambulance service received a 999 emergency call at 7.47 a.m. on 19 May 2013, concerning an incident on the ring road between Naas and Newbridge, near a Garda station. Local gardaí, as the first personnel on scene, provided first response treatment. An emergency ambulance was available and was dispatched to the incident. The ambulance arrived at 8.03 a.m. which was within 16 minutes of receipt of the call. A second emergency ambulance, with an advanced paramedic, was also dispatched, arriving within 19 minutes of the call at 8.06 a.m.

The response time of the first emergency ambulance was within the national response time target of 18 minutes and 59 seconds for a patient-carrying vehicle, as set by the Health Information and Quality Authority. The newspaper involved subsequently printed an apology and retraction, admitting its claims on the ambulance response time, staffing levels at the time of the incident, staff management and plans for coverage in the area were incorrect. Similarly, inaccurate claims have been made in the media in a number of recent tragic incidents, contributing further to the distress of the families and staff involved. In one of these other cases, a national newspaper published a retraction and an apology to the ambulance service.

A significant reform programme is under way to reconfigure the way the HSE manages and delivers pre-hospital care services, to ensure a clinically driven, nationally co-ordinated system, supported by improved technology. This includes progressing a number of efficiencies arising from Labour Court recommendations on rostering arrangements. The ambulance service and trade unions have concluded discussions on roster changes at 30 ambulance stations throughout the country, including 11 stations in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. The new rostering arrangements have been implemented in a large number of stations, including Tallaght, Swords, Maynooth, Kildare and Wicklow, and these are operating successfully.

These changes mean resources can be deployed dynamically, based on need and demand patterns, rather than simply by station location. The greater flexibility and responsiveness will produce better response times, and help to ensure a clinically driven, nationally co-ordinated system to support all pre-hospital emergency care activity in the State, as set out under Future Health: A Strategic Framework for Health Reform in Ireland 2012-2015.

I assure the Deputy the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, will receive her comments and I fully acknowledge she is not criticising the service with regard to the facts as she saw them and as she raised them here.

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